The aim of this thesis is to undertake a comprehensive dendroarchaeological-contextual investigation of 35 sites (44 log structures) in Jasper, Banff, and Kootenay National Parks. Through tree-ring analysis and investigations of relevant documents (i.e., archives and interviews), three main objectives are met: 1) an architectural inventory and tree-ring analysis of sampled structures in the three parks; 2) an exploration of remote construction activity in the three parks, in terms of functional, temporal, and spatial distributions, and tree species selection; and 3) a detailed dendroarchaeological-contextual investigation of three structure case studies. The results provide new insights into remote construction activity from the late-nineteenth to early-twentieth century in the three parks. It assists Parks Canada in their attempt to interpret the cultural heritage resources of this area and contributes to the international need to document and explore vernacular architecture.

While western regional alienation has been the subject of much scholarly and public debate in Canada, we still know relatively little about the factors driving the phenomenon. Relying upon survey data collected in the 1997 Canadian Election Study (CES), this study attempts to substantively quantify western regional alienation and identify its correlates. Using the existing literature as a starting point, the study examines how western regionalism and political culture are typically conceptualized and identifies several factors commonly said to propel regional unrest and western 'distinctiveness.' Regression analysis is used to systematically test the accuracy of existing theories concerning western regional alienation. The study contends that while the four western provinces do not hold a monopoly on feelings of regional alienation, levels of unrest are indeed higher in the West than in other parts of the country. Regional alienation is also distinguished from more general understandings of political apathy or cynicism. Finally, with respect to the factors said to propel regional unrest, antipathy towards Quebec and Outgroups are shown to be the most important predictors or regional alienation - while attitudes concerning the economy, populism, social programs, law and order and continentalism have a weaker effect. However, even after controlling for these factors, significant regional differences remain. Thus, other factors - as-of-yet unaccounted for - must also play a role.

While considerable attention has been paid to the supposed qualitative outcomes of changes in level of financial support for public school education, comparatively little is known about the effects of funding changes on the provision of educational services. An examination of the levels of government expenditure on education in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba from 1976 to 1987 reveals a strong relationship between the state of the provincial economy and levels of financial support. During this period funding levels increased and decreased in all the provinces, with British Columbia experiencing the largest and most frequent fluctuations. Indices were developed for this study to measure the changes in levels of educational services provided. These changes were found to be closely associated with funding levels. Analysis of data obtained from a sample of 20 British Columbia school districts revealed a similar pattern at the district level. In addition, the mix of services was studied, and significant changes were evident in the percentage of teachers employed in instructional as opposed to administrative and support positions. These changes were associated with changes in levels of financial support. Certain characteristics of school districts were identified as having the potential to explain different responses to funding changes. Regression analysis was used to test the resulting hypotheses, and produced largely inconclusive results. This study concludes that although the level and mix of educational services provided in western Canada varied as funding levels increased and decreased over the period studied, in the main school systems proved sufficiently resilient to maintain or even to increase the levels of service they ordinarily provided without dramatically altering the mix of instructional and support staff. / Graduate

While western regional alienation has been the subject of much scholarly and public debate in Canada, we still know relatively little about the factors driving the phenomenon. Relying upon survey data collected in the 1997 Canadian Election Study (CES), this study attempts to substantively quantify western regional alienation and identify its correlates. Using the existing literature as a starting point, the study examines how western regionalism and political culture are typically conceptualized and identifies several factors commonly said to propel regional unrest and western 'distinctiveness.' Regression analysis is used to systematically test the accuracy of existing theories concerning western regional alienation. The study contends that while the four western provinces do not hold a monopoly on feelings of regional alienation, levels of unrest are indeed higher in the West than in other parts of the country. Regional alienation is also distinguished from more general understandings of political apathy or cynicism. Finally, with respect to the factors said to propel regional unrest, antipathy towards Quebec and Outgroups are shown to be the most important predictors or regional alienation - while attitudes concerning the economy, populism, social programs, law and order and continentalism have a weaker effect. However, even after controlling for these factors, significant regional differences remain. Thus, other factors - as-of-yet unaccounted for - must also play a role. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

This study chronicles the course of an important but little known Canadian war: the war between people and weeds in Western Canada. Arising from intense competition between two groups of immigrants, this conflict started in Europe, spread to Eastern North America and reached a climax on the broad expanses of the Canadian Prairies. By the early 1940s weeds had gained the upper hand on their human competitors and many predicted the end to extensive grain production in the West. This did not occur, however, because of the timely development of 2,4-D and other selective herbicides immediately following the close of World War II. These potent chemical weapons gave prairie farmers new hope at a time when defeat seemed all but certain and they are largely responsible for the expensive standoff between farmers and weeds that persists to this day. Recounting the history of weeds and weed control in Western Canada between 1800 and 1950 serves a number of functions. One is to provide weed scientists with some historical background and an object lesson in the consequences of seeking simple solutions to complex, long-standing problems. Another is to remind historians that we cannot truly understand the history of western settlement and agriculture without understanding the practical issues that dominated the daily lives of past generations of farmers. Yet a third function is to introduce a specific environmental history approach to Canadian historians while, at the same time, encouraging them to pay more attention to recent developments in this American-dominated field. A fourth and final reason for investigating the historical relationship between people and weeds is that it can be used to symbolize something far larger: the relationship between culture and nature in general. An exploration of this issue is made possible by the curious relationship between people and weeds, a relationship summed up by the thesis that weeds are both the the products of and participants in culture. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of recent trends in weed science and, in particular, of the merits of the "new" doctrine of weed management. Canadian historians are lectured on the danger of ignoring nature when writing about history and readers are asked to consider what the terms "nature" and "culture" mean. Do they represent discrete subjects, separate spheres of existence, a dichotomy? Or, are they just different aspects of a larger, more complex whole?

In this thesis, the development of a Dominion government telegraph on a portion of the Canadian frontier is analyzed as a formative moment of socialization and cultural expression. It utilizes a socio-cultural framework for understanding the 'experience of space'; notably how changes in presence or access to one another--facilitated by this new mode of communication--are central to this experience. / The thesis argues that the telegraph is crucially related to issues of public confidence. Its approach draws upon recent social and cultural treatments of communication technologies which stress the ways that the material reality of such technologies become part of a larger social and symbolic order. The thesis refers to indicators such as reliability, public works, public interest, competence, and trust to investigate a social apprehension of confidence. 'Confidence', in this case, is not treated as fixed and equally understood, but as something that is invested, shared, built-up and worn down. Thus concerns for and with 'public confidence' help to reveal changes in socio-cultural development.

An integrated pig growth model specific to the dietary formulations, genetic quality and environmental conditions of western Canada has been developed. A computer program was designed to simulate growth of pigs between 20 kgs and 100 kgs live weight. A spreadsheet format -Lotus 123 - was used to allow programming steps to be understood by all users, including those who do not possess a high degree of programming skill. A linear programming system was also incorporated through the use of an algorithm - Optimal Solutions. A useful method of avoiding circular errors, through an initial prediction of growth, was developed through the use of a 'Gompertz' style equation which describes growth; B.W. = A exp (-B exp (-k(t))) where B.W. is body weight (kg), A is mature body weight [estimate based on NRC(1988):164 kg], B is a rate constant [4.46], k is a rate constant [range from 0.01 to 0.015] and t is the time in days. A model of nutrient flow was developed with components which include, [1] body composition at the start of growth, [2] energy and amino acid intake, [3] the utilization of ingested amino acids, [4] the upper limit to daily protein retention, [5] The interaction between metabolizable energy and protein as a proportion of the deposition of body lipid and protein, and [6] equations which assist in the prediction of performance factors. A model proof was undertaken through a study of pig performance across 4 diets varying in protein level. Pig performance indicators included; feed intake, feed efficiency, carcass index and carcass yield. A significant correlation (p<0.05) was shown between model predictions of market age and trial results. Pig rearing conditions differ in western Canada, compared to the rest of North America, due to the influence of British breeding companies and the common use of barley as a key ingredient of swine diets. The growth model developed was found to be a good predictor of performance of pigs being grown in western Canada. Feed intake and the genetic potential for protein deposition were found to be the most important predictors of pig performance. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

This study chronicles the course of an important but little known Canadian war: the war between people and weeds in Western Canada. Arising from intense competition between two groups of immigrants, this conflict started in Europe, spread to Eastern North America and reached a climax on the broad expanses of the Canadian Prairies. By the early 1940s weeds had gained the upper hand on their human competitors and many predicted the end to extensive grain production in the West. This did not occur, however, because of the timely development of 2,4-D and other selective herbicides immediately following the close of World War II. These potent chemical weapons gave prairie farmers new hope at a time when defeat seemed all but certain and they are largely responsible for the expensive standoff between farmers and weeds that persists to this day. Recounting the history of weeds and weed control in Western Canada between 1800 and 1950 serves a number of functions. One is to provide weed scientists with some historical background and an object lesson in the consequences of seeking simple solutions to complex, long-standing problems. Another is to remind historians that we cannot truly understand the history of western settlement and agriculture without understanding the practical issues that dominated the daily lives of past generations of farmers. Yet a third function is to introduce a specific environmental history approach to Canadian historians while, at the same time, encouraging them to pay more attention to recent developments in this American-dominated field. A fourth and final reason for investigating the historical relationship between people and weeds is that it can be used to symbolize something far larger: the relationship between culture and nature in general. An exploration of this issue is made possible by the curious relationship between people and weeds, a relationship summed up by the thesis that weeds are both the the products of and participants in culture. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of recent trends in weed science and, in particular, of the merits of the "new" doctrine of weed management. Canadian historians are lectured on the danger of ignoring nature when writing about history and readers are asked to consider what the terms "nature" and "culture" mean. Do they represent discrete subjects, separate spheres of existence, a dichotomy? Or, are they just different aspects of a larger, more complex whole? / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to assess the needs of employees in regard to their Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) according to the program administrators' perspective. Information was collected from 62 program administrators within 54 organizations across Western Canada using a self-administered questionnaire. The 132-item questionnaire included demographic information and ten sections devoted to elicit administrators' perspectives on employees' needs (prevalence of problems, severity of problems, barriers to EAP utilization, program awareness, prevention programs, training and information for supervisors and union representatives, personal problems and the workplace, the role of the EAP in the workplace, the role of the EAP provider in the workplace, and a general overview). Results show that administrators perceive a greater prevalence and severity of problems than EAP utilization. There is also a perceived large EAP support among its participants (i.e., senior management, supervisors, union representatives, employees) as a relevant means to address employees' and their family members' problems. The outcome of the study indicates as well that personal and family members' problems affect employees and the workplace in a very significant way. Administrators believe that the EAP is a very important resource to deal with such problems. Additionally, results point out the important need for providing employees with information and prevention programs that may equip them with particular resources to address their problems before they affect them at work.